


Wartime Romance

by Lefaym



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-13
Updated: 2010-02-13
Packaged: 2017-10-08 03:35:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lefaym/pseuds/Lefaym
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor isn't impressed by Jack's stories of wartime romance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wartime Romance

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to lionessvalenti on LJ for the beta.

Jack smiled as Rose snuggled in closer to avoid the cool breeze that swept across the beach. Her body was warm against his, and he tightened the arm that he'd casually slipped around her shoulder when they'd set themselves down on the bright red sand a few minutes earlier. Two paces in front of them, the Doctor looked out across the deep purple ocean of Dractius Minor. Jack resisted his instinctive urge to call out for the Doctor to join them; he knew he'd have to go carefully here, and he had no intention of allowing these two to let him go anytime soon.

Jack found that the prospect of being let go made his stomach twist slightly, but he tried to ignore it. He strongly suspected that the Doctor had taken them here so that they could enjoy the sea air and relax a bit. And now that they'd sorted out that bit of trouble with the Sarizian miners, they had a chance to do just that. Jack idly picked at some lint on his sleeve; he'd discarded his tie and undone his top buttons, but otherwise, he still wore the RAF uniform that he'd stolen from the bunk of an unsuspecting Captain.

"That wasn't your first time in 1941, the other day, was it?" Rose asked, turning her head so that her breath tickled Jack's cheek.

"Second," said Jack. "It was my fifth visit to World War II though."

"Why'd you keep going back?"

Jack waited a couple of moments before answering. "First couple of times, I was on assignment with the Agency."

"And what about after that?"

"After that..." Jack sighed. "I went back because I liked it, I suppose."

"And I s'pose that making a bit of extra money had nothing to do with it?" Rose smiled at him, teasing.

Jack laughed. "There are plenty of places in the universe to make money, Rose."

"Then what makes you like it there so much?"

The wind caught a few errant strands of Rose's hair and blew them across her face. Jack lifted his hand and caught them, tucking them gently behind her ear. "It's romantic," he said.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah," said Jack softly. "We would—"

Jack broke off as he realised that the Doctor had turned away from the ocean. His steady gaze seemed to pierce Jack's skin, chilling him far more than the wind ever could.

"Jack?" asked Rose.

"It's time we were going," said the Doctor.

Rose looked up at the Doctor then, seemingly taken aback by his clipped tone. "What's made you so grumpy all of a sudden?"

"Hey! Who said anything about grumpy?" the Doctor protested. "I'm not grumpy!" He grinned at her. "See?"

Rose threw the Doctor a sceptical look, but she simply extended her arm and said, "Well, give us a hand up, then."

As the Doctor helped Rose to stand, Jack rose to his own feet, brushing the sand from his backside as he did so. Rose didn't let go of the Doctor's hand as they made their way back towards the TARDIS, and never one to be dissuaded for long, Jack took Rose's free hand in his own.

"You gonna tell me more about these wartime romances of yours, Jack?" said Rose, with a sly grin.

Jack opened his mouth to start in on a story, but in that moment his eyes met the Doctor's above Rose's head. "Maybe some other time," he said, finally.

"Tell you what," said the Doctor, before Rose could protest. "Let's go visit the Diamond Forest on the second moon of Dandon V. When the crystals catch the light of the solar system's red sun, they..."

Jack allowed himself to tune out the Doctor's words as they approached the TARDIS. He still wasn't used to it—he didn't think he ever would be—the way the beautiful ship spread out before him when the Doctor opened its battered wooden doors. He felt his breath catch—as though he was some sort of unseasoned adolescent—as he stepped across the threshold, and he had to stop a moment to take it all in, even though this was the third time he'd stepped inside.

Once they were in, Rose's hand slipped from his, and she ran to the other side of the console. The Doctor followed her and focused his attention on the levers and buttons and pumps that made up the TARDIS controls. Jack ran his fingers lightly along his own side of the console, wondering at the sophistication and elegance of the technology hidden beneath its battered surface. Through his fingertips, Jack could feel a thousand tiny vibrations shoot up his arms and through his body, and he had to suppress a shiver.

When Jack raised his eyes, he found that the Doctor was watching him, his expression unreadable. Jack held his gaze for a long moment, and to his surprise, the Doctor turned away first, his eyes falling on Rose.

"So," said the Doctor, "Diamond Forest, then?"

Rose grinned at him. "Yeah, all right."

The Doctor turned back to Jack, an eyebrow raised.

Jack couldn't help grinning too. "Sure," he said.

As the gears of the TARDIS began to churn, and the central column began to move up and down, the Doctor ran around the console, adjusting levers and flicking switches. Jack stepped back to allow him room, although part of him was tempted to reach out and help; he was beginning to see how some of it worked, even if most of it was still a mystery to him.

"Right!" said the Doctor, as the gears began to grow quiet. "We're due for touchdown in the Diamond Forest in approximately eight Earth hours."

"That's a bit longer than usual, isn't it, Doctor?" Rose asked.

"Ah, her batteries are due for a bit of a recharge soon," said the Doctor, patting the console fondly. "She's still got a few trips left in her though."

"What do we do in the meantime?" Jack asked. "I mean, I can think of a few things—" he winked at Rose, "—but they might get me into trouble."

"I didn't think you were in the habit of avoiding trouble, Captain," said the Doctor in a tone that might have been teasing, if it didn't have an edge to it.

Jack decided that it was time to try out one of his more winning smiles on the Doctor. "I make an effort for some people," he said.

The Doctor regarded him levelly, but when he spoke, he simply said, "I strongly suggest that you two try to get some sleep before we arrive, since you humans always seem to need it so much."

Jack opened his mouth, but before he could speak, the Doctor cut him off.

"I said _sleep_, Jack."

Jack tried to arrange his face into an expression of innocence.

Rose yawned. "I do feel kind of sleepy, now that you mention it." She padded across the grated floor to the Doctor. Standing on tip-toes, she reached up and brushed a kiss across his cheek. "'Night, Doctor," she said. As she pulled away from the Doctor, Rose looked over at Jack and extended an arm. "You coming?" she asked.

Jack smiled at her. "Always," he said.

He crossed the space between them in three long strides and slipped his arm in hers. He could feel the Doctor's eyes on him—on them—as they left the console chamber for the long curved corridor that led to the bedrooms.

They reached Rose's room first, and she turned to look up at him. "So..." she said, a smile playing at her lips. "Here we are."

Both her voice and her eyes held a hint of an invitation, and for a moment, Jack considered taking her up on it; normally, he wouldn't hesitate. But he still didn't quite know where he stood on this ship, or what his role was supposed to be, so when he bent his head down to hers, it was only to press a quick, almost-but-not-quite chaste kiss against her lips.

"I'll catch you later, Rose," Jack said.

"You bet," Rose replied, pulling him into a quick hug before stepping away from him.

Jack could hear his footsteps echoing after Rose left his side, and he felt strangely disconcerted as he entered his own room. The last time he'd slept in here, he'd been exhausted by the events at Albion hospital and his own close brush with an immanently exploding missile, and he'd quickly fallen into a deep slumber. But now, without bone-deep fatigue to aid him, Jack was suddenly aware of how few of his waking moments had been spent alone since the Doctor and Rose had whisked him away from certain death.

For all that Jack found it easy enough to find a bed partner for the night most of the time, he was not unused to sleeping on his own. Here, though, where he could just about sense the Time Vortex moving around them, where the hum of the TARDIS constantly filled his ears—there was something lonely about it, even as being here seemed to fill something in Jack; some space he hadn't even known was empty.

Jack stripped down to his underwear before he climbed into bed, hoping that the sensation of the soft sheets on his skin would help him ease into sleep, but in spite of the undeniable comfort of the bed, he soon found himself tossing restlessly. Clearly, he wasn't going to find rest anytime soon.

Finally giving up on sleep, Jack swung himself back out of bed, and pulled on his trousers. He left his room with no particular plan in mind, and he spent some time exploring the twisting passageways that seemed to defy every piece of physics he'd ever been taught, but eventually he found himself drawn back towards the main console chamber.

When Jack entered the room, he found the Doctor bent over the console, examining some of the controls. He looked over his shoulder absently, as though he'd expected Jack to be there all along.

"Jack," said the Doctor. "Just in time to make yourself useful. Come and hold this lever down for me."

Jack raised an eyebrow, but he held himself back from making the innuendo-laden comment that immediately sprang to his mind. "No problem," he said.

It turned out that the lever required more strength than Jack had anticipated, and he was beginning to feel the strain by the time the Doctor had finished doing something beneath the console with his sonic screwdriver and a piece of string. After the Doctor told him to let go, Jack leaned back against the console as the tension left his muscles.

When Jack looked up, he saw that the Doctor had stood up again, and was now looking at Jack intently.

"Everything okay, Doctor?"

"Do you really think that war is like a romance novel, Captain?"

For a moment, Jack was confused by the question, but then he remembered his earlier conversation with Rose. "You know that I don't," said Jack quietly.

"And what about Rose?"

"Seems to me," Jack said, his voice low, "that she's been travelling with you long enough that to tell the difference between stories and the real thing. She's seen war with you, hasn't she, Doctor?"

"I've tried to keep her away from the worst of it."

"Have you succeeded?"

The Doctor didn't say anything, and that was answer enough, really.

"Would you rather I told her the other stories, Doctor?" said Jack, frowning. "Do you want me to tell her about the boys lying in the mud, screaming for their mothers, covered in their own blood and piss?" Jack took a step towards the Doctor. "Do you want me to tell her about watching your friends and loved ones die in front of you, begging you for help, if they can talk at all? Do you want me to—"

The Doctor raised a hand, his palm facing outwards. "Jack, stop."

Jack didn't miss the strain in the Doctor's voice, nor the stricken look in his eyes.

"I've seen—" the Doctor paused to swallow, hard. "I've seen all of that. I've seen it so many more times than you possibly could in one lifetime, Jack. I've done—" The Doctor broke off again, but this time he closed his mouth firmly.

Jack didn't ask the Doctor to continue. His own record wasn't exactly pretty, and he knew that some things were better left buried in the past. Or the future.

"None of it's romantic," the Doctor said, finally.

Very carefully, Jack took another step towards the Doctor. "You danced with Rose," he said.

"That's different."

"Is it?"

"Yes." The Doctor continued to look at him, unflinching.

"I don't think it is," said Jack. Another step forward. "If you've seen so much war, then you must know what it's like—to hold someone in your arms on the dance floor or in a foxhole the night before, and suddenly they're the only person in the world—and you realise you have so much _life_ between you—"

Jack stopped because he was less than a foot away from the Doctor now; he was close enough that he could feel the heat emanating from the Doctor's body.

"My people weren't—we aren't like that," said the Doctor, in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Maybe you should be," said Jack.

And then, sick of holding back, and tired of hesitating, even when that was the best thing to do, Jack took the Doctor's face between his hands and kissed him, hard.

For a moment, the Doctor was like stone, but then something seemed to break in him and his hands pulling at Jack's hair, and his mouth was pressing back against Jack's, rough and demanding. Jack felt a thrumming awaken deep within his chest, and he gave himself over to the clash of tongues and teeth, letting the Doctor set their pace.

When Jack came back into awareness he found himself pinned hard against the console; the Doctor's hips pressed against his, and Jack gasped at the pure rawness of it. He worked a hand in between them and tugged, first at his own fly and then the Doctor's, discovering that, externally at least, his physiology was very similar to Jack's own. The groan that escaped the Doctor's lips when Jack wrapped his hand around both their cocks confirmed that, at least as far as sex was concerned, Jack was in familiar territory.

Their movements didn't seem to be unfamiliar to the Doctor either, for all that he claimed this wasn't the way of his people. One of the Doctor's hands joined Jack's, and they shoved against each other, their rhythm growing faster with every heartbeat. Jack felt his orgasm building inside of him, and he could tell that the Doctor was close too. When he came with a yell, his own voice mingled with the Doctor's.

Jack took a moment to lean back against the console heavily, trying to catch his breath as the Doctor pulled away from him. The Doctor didn't seem to be having any difficulty breathing, but the expression on his face assured Jack that he was not unaffected by their encounter. Jack felt himself smiling, and he had just enough of his wits left about him to tone it down a notch, so that it wouldn't come across as a leer.

The Doctor produced a handkerchief from one of his pockets and handed it to Jack wordlessly. Jack examined it curiously for a few seconds (who the hell was "SpongeBob"?) before he set to cleaning himself up and refastening his trousers. When he looked up, he saw that the Doctor had fixed himself up too and was looking over at Jack with the same unreadable expression he'd worn earlier.

"Doctor?" Jack asked, and he was surprised to find that his voice held a hint of uncertainty.

The Doctor smiled at him, just slightly. "I think you'd probably better go back to bed, Captain. Get some of that sleep I was talking about before."

"You sure you don't wanna join me?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Not this time, Jack," he said, not unkindly.

Jack knew when he was being dismissed, and if the Doctor needed to be alone now for whatever reason, well, Jack could understand that. Still, he wasn't about to just leave it at that, so he stepped in towards the Doctor again.

"See you in a few hours, then," Jack said. "Diamond Forest, yeah?"

"That's the plan."

Jack nodded, and then he raised a hand to the Doctor's cheek and kissed him, gently this time. The Doctor's response was slight, but it was still there, and for now, that would be enough.

***  
***

When they opened the TARDIS doors, they found themselves in the middle of a lush blue rainforest that didn't look like any sort of Diamond Forest that Jack had ever seen. The Doctor said that they must have been pulled off-course, and from Rose's unsurprised reaction, Jack surmised that this wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence. They had to set out and explore, of course, especially after the Doctor detected signs of intelligent life off to the north-west. Insecto-mammalian omnivores, the Doctor said, looking delighted.

As the Doctor led the way through the dense foliage, Jack and Rose fell back a bit, occasionally helping each other over fallen logs and knarled tree roots. Rose told Jack more about the places she'd been with the Doctor, and although he didn't interject, Jack could tell that the Doctor was listening.

When their conversation fell into a lull, Jack took his chance. "Hey, Rose," he said. "You wanna know the real reason I kept going back to World War II?"

Rose seemed momentarily surprised by the sudden change in topic, but she smiled at him. "All right then," she said. "Spill."

In front of them, Jack saw the Doctor tense up a bit, but he didn't interrupt.

"It's kinda funny," Jack said, "but whenever I went there, I had the feeling I was going to find something. I didn't know what it was, but—it kept me going back."

Rose looked up at Jack and considered him. "Did you ever find it?" she asked.

Jack let his eyes rest on the Doctor for a moment, and then he turned back to Rose.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "I think I did."


End file.
